In Part "A" you are given a section of the Alabama Constitution to read aloud. Some are easier than others. If white applicants are given the test at all (most weren't), they generally get the easy ones while Black applicants get the hardest ones — the ones filled with legalese and long convoluted sentences. For example, a white applicant might be given:
SECTION 20: That no person shall be imprisoned for debt.
While a Black applicant might be given:
SECTION 260: The income arising from the sixteenth section trust
fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United
States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of
this Constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on
each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the
legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance
of the public schools, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to
increase the public school fund from time to time as the necessity
therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the
state may justify; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so
construed as to authorize the legislature to levy in any one year a
greater rate of state taxation for all purposes, including schools, than
sixty-five cents on each one hundred dollars' worth of taxable property;
and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the
legislature from first providing for the payment of the bonded
indebtedness of the state and interest thereon out of all the revenue of
the state.
The Registrar marked each word that in his opinion you mispronounced. In some counties, you had to orally interpret the section to the registrar's satisfaction. You then had to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from dictation as the registrar spoke (mumbled) it. White applicants usually were allowed to copy, Black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar then judged whether you were "literate" or "illiterate." His judgement was final and could not be appealed.
After that, you were given Parts "B" and "C" which were two sets of four written questions that you had to answer.
![[© Eve Arnold]](../crmpics/citschool.jpg)
The
The parts "B" and "C" we display on this website are some examples
from workbooks that Citizenship
School teachers, such as the young woman in the photo at left, used
to teach applicants to memorize before they went down to the courthouse
to register. For that reason, the correct answers for each question are
shown.
Parts "B" and "C" are in Adobe Acrobat® PDF format.
Copyright ©
Webspinner:
webmaster@crmvet.org
(Labor donated)